US Election: Barack Obama signals new aggression ahead of second debate against Mitt Romney

Barack Obama will take another shot at convincing America – and himself – that
he deserves four more years in the White House on Tuesday, when he is
grilled by struggling voters in the second presidential debate.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama shake hands during the first presidential debate at the University of DenverPhoto: AP

Having lost ground in polls to Mitt Romney after a feeble showing in their first confrontation, the President will try to seize control of his own fate by assuring tens of millions of television viewers that he feels their pain and has a plan to ease it.

After dismaying supporters with his timid responses in Colorado a fortnight ago, Mr Obama signalled that he would aggressively challenge his Republican opponent tonight in Hempstead, New York.

“It was clear that I was being too restrained when Mr Romney was telling his tall tales,” he told a radio interview. However he insisted: “Everything I said was true, and a lot of what he said was not”.

Jennifer Psaki, a senior adviser, told reporters Mr Obama would be “firm but respectful”, adding: “People arent voting who is in the better salesman in chief – they're voting on the better commander in chief”.

Mr Obama said his intensive four-day practice session had been “going great”, after an earlier complaint that debate preparation was “a drag” prompted suggestions that he did not even want the job.

Democratic strategists warned that he must make a forceful case for his own re-election rather than merely painting Mr Romney as a radical conservative elitist with unfeasible economic proposals.

“It's been clear for a long time that a latent majority has been willing to consider replacing President Obama," William Galston, a senior White House adviser to Bill Clinton, told the Daily Telegraph. “The response of the Obama campaign has been to try to undermine the acceptability and credibility of Mr Romney. But the first debate blew up that strategy, and there's no resuscitating it”.

The President regained ground in two national polls yesterday, leaving him and Mr Romney tied at 47.3 per cent each in a RealClearPolitics average. While Mr Obama still leads in a majority of the likely 10 crucial battleground states, Mr Romney appears to have broken ahead in Florida and Virginia.

While Mr Romney was preparing yesterday near his Boston headquarters, he received an unwelcome dismissal of his claims to have been a “job creator” at Bain Capital, the private equity firm where he made his $250 million (£160 million) fortune, from a former Budget Director to Ronald Reagan.

“The whole business was about maximizing debt, extracting cash, cutting head counts, skimping on capital spending, outsourcing production, and dressing up the deal for the earliest, highest-profit exit possible,” David Stockman wrote in Newsweek.

The candidates this evening face a “town hall” debate, in which questions are asked by members of the audience. The intimate setup offers the opportunity to display a rapport with ordinary voters, while also posing the threat of a damaging confrontation with a disgruntled member of the public.

In a key moment of the 1992 presidential election campaign, Mr Clinton used his town hall debate to give a heartfelt response to a woman who asked how the candidates themselves had been affected by the economic downturn, after President George H.W. Bush dismissed her and checked his watch.

Senior advisers to Mr Clinton's campaigns said that while Mr Obama should attack Mr Romney for his dismissal of 47 per cent of Americans as government-dependent “victims”, he must also tell voters: “Democrats believe 'we’re in this together'; Republicans say, 'you are on your own'.”

“To win over swing voters and energise his base to turn out, the President needs to speak to these themes clearly, meaningfully, and emphatically,” said James Carville and Stan Greenberg. “He needs to stand up for, and advocate policies to advance, the so-called '47 per cent'.”

New polling published yesterday by Mr Greenberg found that voters “want bold change” and that Mr Romney had succeeded in offering this in the first debate. As a result the President must tonight offer “a bold narrative, bold policies, and the clear choice for the future,” said Mr Greenberg.